"Praise the action, not the child." Easier said than done. We are all proud parents, and can't wait to praise those first steps, first words, or first set of grades. We all think we're doing right by our children by offering kind praises, but a word of caution...Praise the action, not the child. As parents, we need to be careful of attaching praise to our children. Certainly, I'm not suggesting we don't encourage and cherish accomplishment, but we do need to focus on our methods. If we're not mindful, we could actually hurt our children's development, by conditionally training them to rely on praise to perform. What happens when the child "fails" ? The fear is that emotionally, because he/she has failed, they will internalize too much to the point of losing confidence in themselves. The child will doubt his/her abilities because performance is tied to them individually, and consequently self-esteem issues arise. To truly raise a child that will "never give up", focus your feedback on the action! An example of such dialogue would be... Instead of saying, " Brett, you're such a great artist! I love your painting!" An alternative would be, "Brett, you worked so hard on that painting, you must have really taken your time and thought about all the colors you used." It's a subtle difference, but what an important impact your words can have in influencing future behavior. Teaching a child to put forth the effort and never give up on his/her dreams enables consistent performance through focus on the journey, not the outcome. How many of us ourselves are willing to give up just because we did not receive the desired outcome? "Praise the act, not the child!" Thanks for reading!